Post navigation

Reporter speculates that if Mitt loses presidential race, he will become the president of the Church

This was too rich not to share. A Bloomberg reporter speculates that if Romney loses the presidential race he’ll become president of the Church.

Ultimately, it isn’t hard to see Romney, whose fervor for the Mormon faith runs deep, becoming president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When he was in his 30s, Romney was bishop of his congregation and president of the Boston-area church. He would be the most visible leader of the fast-growing and controversial denomination since Brigham Young.

Age wouldn’t be a barrier for the 64-year-old; the current president is 84, and it’s not uncommon for Mormon presidents to be in their 90s. The prohibition against smoking, drinking and other transgressions leads to a longer lifespan, it would seem.

What about Huntsman? No mention of future Church service, not even being promoted to Patriarch or temple president. It seems there are drawbacks to being wealthy and attractive.

I am sure this is how most outsiders see the Church president, as somebody picked from prominent Mormons. If they knew about the decades of service most presidents have put in as apostles or members of the First Presidency before becoming the prophet, perhaps they would change their views a bit. Btw, hat tip to Nate Oman for linking this article.

Share this:

Like this:

About Geoff B.

Geoff B graduated from Stanford University (class of 1985) and worked in journalism for several years until about 1992, when he took up his second career in telecommunications sales. He has held many callings in the Church, but his favorite calling is father and husband. Geoff is active in martial arts and loves hiking and skiing. Geoff has five children and lives in Colorado.

Book, I think that is a decent point. I was a reporter when I was much younger, and when I think back to the things I pretended to know about the world then and how wrong I was, I am embarrassed. The best reporters are true experts in different fields. Just to give you an example, I am in the telecom business, and your average national reporter gets everything wrong about the telecom business. But the people who specialize in it for trade publications are very, very good.

In the same way, the reporters who specialize in reporting on Mormonism usually get things right.

So, maybe the lesson is: in our fast-paced world with so much information available, we should learn to be very skeptical of things we read.

I’m with Joyce, I thought the article was hilarious, albeit unintentionally. I think reporting on LDS-related stuff has actually improved a lot over the past few years,in general, probably because so much of it is done by a few true specialists like Peggy Fletcher Stack at the SL Tribune. But the clueless still get stuff published as well, as in this piece. And I have read many pieces that assume that church leadership is deeply involved in trying to get Mitt Romney elected President of the US.

Geoff, it’s also true that most of what gets reported related to medical/science news in the national press is just reported wrong, although you can tell the reporter was trying. Few reporters have the background to understand what they are writing about and are thus unable to accurately report it.

Many years ago, there was a family in the neighborhood that was good friends with many Mormon families, including the ward bishop’s family. When he was released from his calling in the normal way and became deacon’s quorum advisor, the mother in the family delicately inquired what the bishop had done to get sacked. One of those situations where a little appropriate gossiping can salvage a reputation instead of savaging one.

Having once been a reporter, I know reporters can sometimes get things wrong or at least not quite right. But in times past, most media outlets had copy editors, or fact checkers, to try to make sure most things reporters wrote or said were somewhat accurate — somebody who might, say, call up the LDS church media relations office and ask a few simple questions. One of the problems with the advent of 24 hour cable tv, talk radio and the internet is that no one does this anymore. The imperative is not check for accuracy, but rush to publish or broadcast. Of course, in the case of highly political media organizations such as Fox News, which no longer even maintains the illusion of being fair and balanced, no one gives a crap about accuracy or truthfulness anymore. Bloomberg should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such a dumb thing to go into print without in some way verifying its accuracy. That said, theoretically, Romney could be a future president of the church. Highly unlikely, since the bretheren have held fast to the “sacred custom” of choosing the senior apostle, but it is nowhere written in stone that it absolutely must be done this way. If I were Mitt, I wouldn’t hold my breath, however.

Theoretically, if Mitt were called to the Q of the 12, and outlived all the more senior apostles, then yes, he could be president. But Mitt is 64, and two other apostles are younger than him, Elder Bednar, age 59, and Elder Andersen, age 60.

President Kimball was not expecting to outlive Harold B. Lee, but President Lee died at age 74. President Kimball became president at age 78.

Since when has “shrill” become a noun? Or did Jettboy shrilly mean “shill”?

There was similar speculation in the press when George Romney left the Nixon cabinet–that he might go to Utah and join his cousin Marion G. Romney in the Quorum of the Twelve. Even at 18 I knew that was nonsense.

On the other hand, shortly after Wayne Owens, a former congressman, was defeated by Jake Garn (for one of Utah’s two senate seats), he was called as president of the Montreal Mission. So, it could happen to Mitt. But I’d bet against it.

I agree with the firt part of Don’s comment…..the church is out there, all anyone would have to do is call the Church media dept to verify anything about the LDS church, when a reporter does not, it’s pure laziness.

Our stake president talked in sacrament meeting a while back. He admitted/apologized for losing his temper with a local reporter who insisted that the recent “I am a Mormon” ad campaign was intended to help Mitt Romney get the GOP nomination.